21.09.09
We spent 21st evening riding a shikara on the Dal lake. The word ‘Dal’ means big and rightly describes the largest of the five lakes in the Kashmir valley. The Kashmir valley is called Heaven on earth. Here be snow capped mountains, lush green fields & forests. At 1585 to 1829 feet above sea level, cool Kashmir was the summer capital of the Mughals and their favorite spot.
22.09.09
Pahalgam
Situated 96 km away from Srinagar at a height of 2195 m, Pahalgam is in the Lidder Valley where the Lidder flows down from the mountains. It is surrounded by high mountains with snow caps even in autumn!. Pahalgam means Shepherd’s village.
All the places of interest here are situated on top of the mountains. We had to take a bone wracking and perilous ride on horseback.
Our first halt wasat the Water Falls, where the Lidder river rushes down on its route to the valley below. We then made a dizzying climb on horseback up an almost vertical slope with hearts in our mouth. But the risk was worth it as we had reached “Kashmr Valley View”, a viewpoint on a grassy sloping meadow from which we had a panoramic view of the Himalayan ranges as well as the Lidder valley down below.
We then passed through Dabgyan a place where the Raja of Kashmir Harish Singh used to stay while on Shikhar.
The last point was Baisaran, an open grassy green valley with mountains all around.
En route to Pahalgam we saw a couple of ruined Vishnu and Shiva temples built by an Oriyan king Avanti Varman who had ruled parts of Kashmir for a time. The destrucrtion of this site must have happened post Islamization of Kashmir.
Not to be missed is a drink of hot Kavah a spicy herb tree with almond, saffron and fragrant herbs.
The rare trees that grow here in the Kashmir valley are Poplars, Firs, Pines, Willow and Deodhar. Cricket bats made from the local willow are world famous.
On the whole, the majority muslim population here in Kashmir is interested in peace. The Kashmiris, especially those directly dependent on tourism are go out of their way to prove that Kashmir is safe. They are particular in enquiring if we are happy and satisfied with our trip. Why rates are not low, they are negotiable. Everything is made to seem hunk y dory. But, the Jawans sitting or standing silently every ten feet or so with their
rifles ready, tell a different story. The people are under constant observation. Their slightest movement is questioned. Vehicles are stopped at will to verify identity proof. He argument that these Jawans are a protection to tourists sounds convincing. Better to take a proper ID proof if your travelling in J&K.
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